Harassment of activists at airports accelerate (from Green Party Newsletter)

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

HARASSMENT OF GREENS AND OTHER ACTIVISTS AT AIRPORTS ACCELERATE
Doug Stuber, North Carolina Greens

I was at the airport trying to make an important trip to Prague to gather
artists for Henry James Art in Raleigh, NC, USA when I was told (ticket in
hand) that I was not allowed to fly out that day. Curiously, I asked "why
not" and the answer at Raleigh Durham Airport (RDU) was that, because of
the DC sniper attacks, no Greens were allowed to fly overseas on THAT DAY.

Naturally, I went back the next morning, and instead of paying $670 round
trip was forced into a $2,600 "same day" air fare. I was mad enough about
the money, but what happened in the next 24 hours was mind-boggling.

So, it was 6 am and my first flight wasn't due out until 11:45, so I had
plenty of time to kill. At exactly 10:52 am, just before boarding was to
begin, I was approached by Officer Stanley (the same policeman I was
ushered out of the airport the day before), and he said he "wanted to talk
to me." I went with him, but reminded him that no one had said I could not
fly, and that my flight was about to leave. The officer took me into a room
and questioned me for one hour. By noon Stanley introduced me to two
gentlemen I will refer to as Secret Service A and Secret Service B.

SS-A and SS-B took full eye-open pictures of me with a digital camera. They
then asked me all the details about my family, where I lived, who I ever
knew, what the Greens are up to, etc., etc. At one point I asked if they
really believed the Greens were equal to Al Qaeda. They showed me a
document from the Justice department (Ashcroft and friends) that actually
DOES state that greens are likely terrorists. I wish I had had a camera to
be able to copy THAT document!

We got out of there at about 12:45 -- enough time to catch the later
flight. They walked me to the Delta counter and asked that I be given
tickets for the flight so I could make my connections. The woman (she is a
tall blonde with short hair and works for Delta at RDU) quickly printed out
tickets so that I could make the flight, and I was relieved that the SS
hadn't stopped me from flying. I was wrong again. Just as I was about to
board the plane, officer Stanley ONCE AGAIN ushered me out the door.

To be fair, he told me this: "Just go to Greensboro, where they don't know
you, and be totally quiet about politics, and you can make it to Europe
that way." I felt like I was  being set up, but I went to Greensboro
anyway. In Greensboro, NC I showed my passport and was told flat out that I
could not fly anywhere. Are Greens throughout the US being barred from
flying? (Our former national Co-Chair, Nancy Oden, had already been denied
a flight from Maine to Chicago eight months ago.)

Not to be denied, I then traveled to Charlotte. This is another hour and a
half away, so I'd been up for 40 hours, with a 1.5 hour drive ahead. I
stocked up on Dr. Pepper and decided I would not be denied. Of course, at
Charlotte the same thing: get this terrorist out of here was the mode the
cops were in. I then drove three hours home (43 hours trying to catch a
flight) and crashed hard in bed. It appears that greens, who have ten key
values that include nonviolence, social justice, etc., are considered
terrorists by the Ashcroft-led Justice Department. I had always speculated
that capitalism had gone too far. Now I know for sure.

-------------------------------------------------------------
PEACE ACTIVISTS GROUNDED
Ellen Kaiser, War Times #6, Oct-Nov 2002

Peace activists are showing up on a federal no-fly list, intended to keep
terrorists off planes. Among the targets have been Wisconsin anti-war
activists, a Green Party official from Maine and two War Times staff
members. The activists emphasize that they support airport security but
oppose a list that includes dissenters.

-------------------------------------------------------------
AUTHOR CITES AIRPORT HARASSMENT, CANCELS US TOUR

Rohinton Mistry, one of Canada's most celebrated authors, announced that he
was canceling the remainder of his U.S. book tour due to what he
characterized as racial profiling in American airports. "He was singled out
at airports because of the color of his skin," said Paul Bogaards, director
of publicity for Knopf, Mistry's publisher. "This is the way of the world
now, and, after a time, Rohinton Mistry became uncomfortable."

Mistry's latest book, Family Matters, which details the struggles of a
father and his children in modern Bombay, was a Booker Prize nominee and a
Book Sense September/October 2002 76 pick. Mistry is also the author of A
Fine Balance, which was a March/April 2000 Book Sense 76 pick


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